


Prelude for The Time Feelers

by Cumasú (IrishPixie)



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Completely self-indulgent author, Established Relationship, Future Fic, If You Squint - Freeform, Light Angst, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, eventual fluffiness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-26
Updated: 2017-02-17
Packaged: 2018-09-20 00:18:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9467066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IrishPixie/pseuds/Cumas%C3%BA
Summary: Alec always believed, to share a love of literature was to share a love of a certain type of life. A life that could see through a thousand different eyes, wander through a million different scenarios and be strengthened through millennia of shared wisdom. Somehow… somehow, Alec Lightwood knew even then, when he had yet to take any action towards the idea, that it was a life he would share with Magnus Bane.or   Silly boys (men) in love, and their adventure to the start of their forever, with a little side of meddlesome Catarina mixed in.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, my dear reader. I hope you're having a wonderful day and if not, I hope tomorrow will be a million times brighter! 
> 
> This is a little something I've been procrastinating over for quite a while now. I originally posted a first chapter of this many months ago and I got some wonderful comments and kudos that I honestly couldn't get over, it meant so much to me. But when I reread it and then continued with another chapter, I realised I wasn't happy with it and I had wished I hadn't posted it so soon. So I took it down from here and decided to do a complete redraft, which was the best decision I could have made. Honestly guys even if you had read that first post you probably wouldn't recognise this as being the same! But on the off-chance that someone did, I didn't want anyone to think I copied someone else, hence this ridiculously long authors note.
> 
> Anyway, fast forward a couple of months and *hey presto* fanfic take two has arrived. I hope you guys enjoy this! I don't have a beta so all the mistakes are my own *nervous laughs*. Let me know what you think. There will be 3 Parts to this so it's not a long fic by any means. This is the first fic I have ever written for any fandom. Ever. e v e r. 
> 
> lmao why am I like this I'm literally laughing to myself for no reason writing this note thinking I'm funny. Alas all good things must come to an end. Enjoy reading this and if you cant, well my apologies and I take full responsibility for this ridiculousness (apart from the characters, because they are not mine no matter how much I wish they were..)
> 
> Toodles!
> 
> Ps. I'll be adding more tags as we go along. The rating might even get bumped up, who knows *winks*

**_2pm_ **

"Come now, Catarina. Do you honestly believe you can teach me something that I don't already know?" 

 "The height of your ego never fails to amuse me Magnus" a smirk was evident in her melodic voice "...but I believe even _you_  and your dark abyss of magical knowledge will be pleased by my new discovery." 

 " _Dark abyss,_ you flatter me, darling." Magnus' lips quirked at the corners, it had been some time since their last rendezvous. He enjoyed the easy back and forth between them that had been absent for a while. He hadn't realised just how much he had missed the women who was for all intents and purposes, his family.

     

   

  The two friends made their way to their usual table on the edge of the large food plaza, they carried steaming cups of signature coffee from their favourite little kiosk.

   They had stumbled upon it one evening, when other coffee establishments had been deemed " _Too crowded Catarina." "No, the view is_ appalling." _"How could_ anyone _make decent coffee whilst staring at_ periwinkle _paint?!"_ A few shops later and a menacing glare from Catarina,  _Myra’s Mochas_ _in Corbett Court Plaza,_ became their new meeting point. (Magnus still claimed none of the others had sufficed, simply because he was being _drawn_ to the little hole in the wall all along.)

   “Okay, out with it my dear! We don’t have all day and you have me enthralled.” Magnus rested his chin on his jewelled hands. He could feel the coolness of the metal table underneath his elbows. Catarina had a brilliant smile on her face, it rivalled the sun that was beaming down on them, she was _teasing him_ and he knew it.                                                                                                                                       

  “Are you sure you want _me_ to teach _you_ this Magnus? After all, you probably already know how to do it…” Catarina said wistfully, as if she was a person who was intimidated by her coffee dates’ magical prowess.  She always had been quite the actress.

  Magnus glared playfully. He would be the first to reiterate just how powerful and magnificent he was, but alas, even the High Warlock of Brooklyn had tidbits left to learn.    

  Before he could pay full attention to what his friend was saying, a young couple passed his and Catarina’s table. They were just an average mundane couple, but their lack of shame towards having an audience to their obviously impassioned argument made them quite the spectacle. Their loud voices drew the attention of people at least a hundred meters in front of them, Magnus assumed. Although he digressed, his estimation skills left a lot to be desired.

  He envied them in a way, which was preposterous. Magnus had everything he needed and more than he had dared dream of. So maybe he didn’t envy _them_ but rather their _voices,_ and how they _used_ those voices. Alexander didn’t use his voice. During the previous few weeks at least -excluding the show he put on the night previous, during their _ministrations_ of each other. Magnus smirked at the memory and did well to hide it from Catarina’s perceptive eyes.

  Magnus always saw it, the moment Alec decided to take more time preparing his words than speaking them. They had knocked this hurdle in the beginning of their relationship he thought, but in previous days his Nephilim had been tense in his conversation and jumpy when Magnus would pop up unexpectedly. It made the warlock wonder, just what musings were taking place in Alexander’s lovely head.

   “…so then I obviously kicked him to the curb for daring to lie to me, it was so _amusing_ , my friend, to watch him flounder about trying to find out how I caught him in his untruth. Which is what you will be doing in a moment if you don’t start paying attention, MAGNUS!”

  Magnus startled and jumped in his seat, he turned to fully face Catarina. She wore an entertained expression, but behind it was one of surprise. _Magnus_ was not one to startle easily, she was intrigued to say the least.

  “What’s got you so pensive Magnus? Though, I must admit your silence is a welcome rarity…” even though Magnus had turned _more and more_ like the colour of the maroon velvet blazer he was wearing, quips were a necessary foundation for their conversations “… but I was hoping to teach you my new trick sometime _this_ century. I refuse to let you drag me along for a few hundred years again, simply because you have a phobia of our tests parameters.” A devilish smile graced her beautiful ebony face.

  Magnus flopped his arms like a baby seal, almost splattering both of their coffees on Catarina’s floral dress, no longer the brash high warlock he had been a few seconds earlier. “I was just- …I wasn’t- …I- …they- …it was not a few hundred years Catarina!” he replied indignantly, albeit disjointedly.

  Catarina grinned at her friend’s loosened grip of the English language. She decided to spare Magnus from his own incompetence, so prepared herself to teach the other warlock the new trick she had discovered on her adventures.

  “So, my dear High Warlock, don’t you wish to know how I knew the floundering fool was lying to me?”

 Still put out from the earlier debacle, Magnus merely rolled his almond shaped eyes and fixed Catarina with a steely gaze… “Go on.”

  “Telepathy, my darling!”

  “Impossible.”

  “Is not.”

  “Is too!”

 “It bloody well is not Magnus! Now let me tell you how, you great buffoon.”

 Magnus crossed an arm over his chest and looked at her with widened eyes and a hand to his mouth, while he pondered how he possibly left Catarina’s illusions get this far. He would have to keep a closer eye on her from now on for sure. Maybe a tracking spell he thought.

  “If you so much as think again, of putting a tracking spell on _me_ Magnus Bane, I’ll make sure your boyfriend knows all about yours and Ragnor’s stint in that burlesque lounge. Although knowing you, you’d probably help me tell him.” Cat rolled her eyes and looked away from Magus playfully at the end of her exclamation, which swayed the severity of her words.

  For the second time that day, Magnus found that he lacked control of his own arm movements, this time though, he looked rather like a baby giraffe than a baby seal.

  Is she actually being serious? He wondered. Could she actually have mastered telepathy? Is the practise even remotely possible? Safe even?

  “Yes, I am. You bet I did. It is, which you would already know if you weren’t such an ass. Completely safe my dear, as long as you don’t fuck up your Chthonian.”

  The silence that followed challenged the pauses in the mundane movies Magnus both loved and loathed simultaneously, to watch. All that was missing were the compulsory cricket sounds.

  “Well, Catarina…” breathless sounds that were meant to be words, were released from the High Warlock’s lips. “…you _do_ have some teaching to do, don’t you?”

  As the afternoon sun bathed the two old friends in golden hues, they stood from the small table and grabbed their still half-full takeout cups and started their journey to Catarina’s downtown duplex to continue their collusions away from prying mundane ears. The dark kohl that lined Magnus’ eyes did little to hide his scepticism.

 

***

 

**_6pm_ **

Alexander returned home from a hunt reeking of ichor and sweat, heart set on climbing into his and his boyfriend’s angel sent shower. Maybe with his warlock climbing into it with him, he thought. He had no objections to that notion, encouraged it even.

  What he didn’t expect was for the loft to be empty; completely void of the noise of Magnus watching his ridiculous -but entertaining Alec can admit- television programs that usually greeted him. There were no ominous smells wafting in from the kitchen, where sometimes Magnus would _try_ to cook a meal instead of conjuring it from the kitchens of the restaurant near their home that they both frequented. There wasn’t enraged shouting from their bedroom’s direction that alerted Alec to a ‘Magnus Meltdown’ as he liked to call it which would usually result in a complete redecoration of their shared living space. No, nothing of the sort; just, silence. 

  Alec meandered through the loft. He headed for the kitchen, straightened up the living room as he passed from his and Magnus’ shenanigans the previous night. A potted plant had been knocked over, cushions littered the mahogany wood floor and a blanket meant for covering the couch had somehow ended up in tangled in the bookshelf. Just the memory of what unfolded on that couch the evening before, had his cheeks the colour of the rubies on his boyfriend’s vanity.

  He decided to have a light snack before Magnus came home, he knew that the warlock wouldn’t have gone far without telling him and would most likely be back soon.

  Alexander stopped short before he opened one of the doors of built-in fridge at the side of the large chef’s kitchen, he noticed a note held by a magnet. It was written on the finest stationary with a gold ink pen by a hand skilled in calligraphy.

 

> My dearest Nephilim,
> 
>    The lovely Catarina has wandered back into our neck of the woods, so I must go to the requisite coffee date, before she spills to me all the latest gossip and mysteries I do long to know.
> 
>   Have fun with the Chairman, I expect loads of pictures of you both all snuggly. Don’t let him guilt you into feeding him more treats –no, I still haven’t forgotten the last time you two were left alone. I have fed him, but I expect I shall be while so feel free to give him a little snack, perhaps a bit of caviar, he is rather partial.
> 
>   To the best of my knowledge, I should be home around half-eight this evening. I cannot wait to see your glorious self, my little hot cross bun. Perhaps a repeat of last night will be on the cards…?
> 
>   Anyway… I should get going, one does not keep Catarina Loss waiting. I will see you soon, my dear. 
> 
> Forever yours,
> 
> Your incredibly attractive, intelligent, magnificent, High Warlock of Brooklyn, boyfriend,
> 
> Magnus xxx

 

 

  Alec imagined the grin on his partner’s wonderful face as he wrote the note. The words were so unequivocally _Magnus_ that the shadowhunter stood frozen for a few moments, still yet to open the fridge, just rereading the sentences written solely for him. It was only after he read the letter for a fourth consecutive time, that Alec realised he would be alone in the loft for much longer than he had originally anticipated.

  Checking the watch on his wrist –a Cosmograph Daytona Rolex, made with oyster, steel, and gold. _A timeless luxury_ Magnus had called it, when Alec had enquired about the cost of the exquisite gift (though the Nephilim was certain, that was actually the company’s slogan.). Alec noted he had at least two hours before he was accompanied in the apartment by a being other than the Chairman.

  Alexander smiled to himself when the opportuneness of his situation fully dawned on him. It was the perfect time to bring his vision into reality. The perfect time to make sure he could create something worthy of the moment he knew would become as immortal as his lover.   

  Alec wasn’t oblivious. He realised his skittishness had troubled Magnus. He tried to calm his nerves while talking to the other man but he knew their conversations had been slightly stilted and it was purely down to Alec himself. The younger man just could not relax when he looked into the mesmerising amber eyes that held such a strong hold over his entire being.

  That’s why the metaphorical blueprint of what he hope to create was detailed and would be executed to perfection. The smile had never left Alec’s face since he read the beautifully mundane note that didn’t need magic to be magical, and only grew larger when the thought of what he _hoped_ would be the result from his arduous weeks of planning, filled his head.

  Alec chose a bottle of the sparkling water Magnus kept their fridge stocked up on, rather than a snack and walked to their shared bedroom. He grabbed the manila envelope addressed to him from Clary from the hiding space above the kitchen presses where he had put it three days before.

  

 

   The room was littered with piles of books, mounds of jewellery, and lavish velvet chairs stacked with clothing. Their bedroom had a well-lived-in, well-loved, atmosphere encompassing it. When he walked into it, Alec felt an all-encompassing warmth that had always been intrinsically tethered to his relationship with Magnus. If you were to look at the room briskly, it could appear disarrayed and slightly chaotic, but, if you looked closer at the objects that blanketed the large, bright space; it would tell the story of two men whose lives were perfectly entwined and whose care for each other was emblazoned onto everything they held dear. And the items that spanned across the room in seeming chaos transfigured into an anthropomorphic prelude for the story of two lives who chose to live as one.

  Alec looked around timidly, trying to figure out where to start. He picked up a book from the plethora of hardbacks piled on his right, some belonged to Magnus and some belonged to him. He decided immediately it was the one he would use for his project. It was called _A Watch of Stars_. A book both he and Magus adored. The cover was worn from appreciation. The spine was wrinkled from age. But the story inside, of the curse of reincarnation upon a young man who every 200 years, always ends up loving the same person -an immortal watch maker- though he never remembered his past lives, was as effervescent as it ever had been.

   It was an interest that Alec was so grateful he shared with the warlock. Alec always believed, to share a love of literature was to share a love of a certain type of life. A life that could see through a thousand different eyes, wander through a million different scenarios and be strengthened through millennia of shared wisdom. Somehow… _somehow_ , Alec Lightwood knew even then, when he had yet to take any action towards the idea, that it was a life he would share with Magnus Bane.

 

***


	2. Chapter 2

**7.30pm**

  Alexander Gideon Lightwood had made up his mind. His plan was going to go down that very night. The downright beauty of what he had just put together, enraptured him so wholly until his only thoughts eluded _to_ Magnus and what he had wanted to _do for_ Magnus for so unbelievably long. _This was real. This was_ _happening_. Alec didn’t want to be alone in his emotions about it anymore. He couldn’t handle keeping such a big secret from Magnus. He hoped that the night would go well, that he could go through the motions of the evening without revealing that no matter what happened, it was the night everything would change. At precisely 9:00pm. 

 

***

 

**8.28pm**

Magnus arrived at the loft after an exhausting yet bountiful day with Catarina, to the smell of his favourite meal, cooked to perfection in his own kitchen. He was drawn to the scent like he was a piece of metal and the aroma was a magnet. He left his jacket on the antique coat post by the entrance and proceeded to walk into the kitchen. 

 Magnus noted that the living room was as clean as it had been before his escapades with Alec and couldn’t help but wish there was lasting evidence that could act as a subtle reminder of his remarkable luck -to be allowed to witness that side of his Alexander in all of his beautiful vulnerability and glory.

 The warlock could hear soft murmurs from the kitchen. He halted at the small barricade that divided the kitchen and dining room from the living area. The smile that blossomed on Magnus’ face once he realised the recipient of his boyfriend’s words was blinding and unperturbed. Though Alec’s voice was muffled, Magnus still found a feeling of safety from it, as he always did.

 “Chairman, I already gave you the last of the caviar and Magnus fed you before he left. You are not hungry you’re just being gluttonous.” Magnus visualised the pout on Alexanders face as he argued with the cat. Even though Alec was a seasoned shadowhunter, he was still a soft touch when it came to the Chairman. The little animal had him wrapped around his paw from the minute Magnus first brought Alec into his home.

“Okay fine. You win. I’ll feed you, but I will be having words with Magnus about this because it certainly wasn’t me who thought you that trick for when you want food…” the sound of a cat food can opening and an exasperated meow that sounded more and more like a human voice each day emitted from the kitchen “…I mean, c’mon, how in the world does a cat roll his eyes. It’s ridiculous, and to think I was going to buy you more toys at the weekend …”

  Alexander’s grumbling continued, Magnus’ smile widened more than he thought possible. The warlock wasn’t sure he wanted his presence to be known yet. 

  It had been a while since he heard Alec talk so unabridged. Except for last night, which was why the encounter with his boyfriend was so special to him and invaded his mind without his permission. 

 He wasn’t sure Alexander realised, but the shadowhunter’s tense behaviour towards Magnus in previous weeks, had worn down the warlock. Magnus’ mind constantly raced with thoughts that were born of intense anxiety, whenever Alec’s unease was apparent. Even though he had started to be worried to the point of frustration, Magnus knew; no matter what irrational thoughts his mind tried to convince him of, he could never lose faith in Alexander Lightwood. The man who Magnus loved so purely and unconditionally, that the warlock accepted a long time before, there would never be another love like it.

  Magnus was interrupted from his thoughts when Chairman Meow ran beneath his feet as the cat held something in his mouth and heavy paces neared where Magnus was standing. 

 “Chairman Meow get back here! That was my piece of salmon not your second dinner! I swear to Raziel that-”  

  Alec had lost his footing while he rounded the corner of the division, promptly barrelled into a frozen High Warlock and trapped said warlock against the ground with the shadowhunter’s deceptively heavy body. While Magnus usually encouraged a position like the one they had found themselves in, there seemed to be something hard and rectangular in the front pocket of the navy hoodie Alexander was wearing that pushed against Magnus’ ribs quite uncomfortably.

 “My darling, while I wholeheartedly love having you on top of me, I think my ribs might get a tad bruised from whatever monstrously hard object you have in your pocket, if we stay as we are much longer.” 

 Alec seemed stunned for a moment before he clambered to a standing positon and tugged Magnus with him. He started to utter apologies that were completely unwarranted. “Magnus? I am so sorry I didn’t me-” 

 “Oh don’t worry Alexander I’m perfectly alright.”

 “But-”

 “Ah!”

 “Mags-”

 “Nope!” Magnus enjoyed teasing Alec. His smile increased in tandem with the shadowhunter’s blush.  

 “But please do tell, what in Lilith’s name is in your pocket darling?”

 At that Alec bristled, he immediately changed the subject and turned around to return to the kitchen. “It’s nothing Magnus. Dinner’s ready, let’s eat before Chairman decides to steal more.”

 Magnus sighed. He knew Alec was diverting, and while Alec had been elusive when they had talked in instances before that moment, the shadowhunter had never outright brushed Magnus’ inquiries aside like he had just then. 

 Magnus steeled himself for a few seconds and then followed Alexander into their kitchen. He hoped they could just have a normal evening dinner date, like they had before Alec had seemed weary in his own home. But in that moment, it seemed very unlikely.

 

***

 

**8.57pm**

 “Dinner was delicious Alexander, thank you. Now if you’ll excuse me, there’s a bathroom calling my name!” Magnus said, after he stood from the hand-crafted oak wood dining table. It was positioned to exploit the breath-taking view of Brooklyn that could be seen through the floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the area, akin to a crow’s nest.

  Magnus talked with a smile, but Alec saw straight through it. Their meal thus far had been enveloped in silence, usually Magnus couldn’t stop recounting his day, especially when Catarina was involved, but that evening, Alec had felt like Magnus had purposely stayed quiet. Alec hadn’t liked it, but he couldn’t blame the warlock. Technically Alec had been the one who stopped talking first. Right then though, Alexander felt he couldn’t be the reason for the couple’s restrained dynamic any longer. It was a weight he was no longer willing or needed to bear.

 “Magnus, wait…”

 “Just a moment my love… I quite literally might burst and that would greatly disrupt our evening.” Magnus voiced flippantly, while he slowly exited to the living area.

 “Please Mags, just a minute-” Alec could read Magnus like he could read runes. While the warlock’s voice and mannerisms had remained aloof, his face was disquieted. Alec hated being the reason for that and knew he needed to amend it as soon as was possible.

 “Honestly Alexander, I’ll be back before you can say cabbage patch!” Magnus walked faster then, and a few moments later the sound of boot heels on the marble hallway floor off of the living area resonated throughout the quiet loft, stopped only by the click of a door being closed.

 Alec was still seated at the table and took a minute to look at Magnus’ plate; it was still relatively full. He rubbed at his newly runed hand and waited for his warlock to come back to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! I had some rather important adulting stuff that I had to attend to. But you shall be pleased to know that I have this fic relatively finished, all that is left for me to do is final drafting and uploading! Huzzah! *throws steel armoured fist in the air* Thankyou so much for your wonderful comments and kudos on the first chapter, this one is slightly shorter but I had to cut it there or else I would have had to mesh two parts together which didn't sit well with me. This is not beta read so all mistakes are my own. I hope you enjoy it! Please leave some kudos and comments if you wish as they mean the world to me! Next part will be up soon! Toodles -H xxx

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really interested to know your reactions so leave a message if you please! The title is from a lovely piece by Eluvium which I feel goes well with this fic though many would probably argue its a bit too nostalgic maybe? Either way, it's beautiful, you should definitely have a listen.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, ta-ta for now friends!


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